


Education

by 00AwkwardPenguin00



Series: Dragon of the Yuyan [12]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang is still learning sign, Firebending & Firebenders, Gen, LOTS of ASL grammar, Post-Episode: s01e16 The Deserter, Sokka has no fear, Zuko has ISSUES with Jeong-Jeong, Zuko talks to himself in sign, all the fish ever for all time to her, and firebending as it is currently taught, he's not quite code-switching yet, my beta reader is a goddess and she saved my ass, nearly drove myself crazy with this bullshit, short and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24456109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/00AwkwardPenguin00/pseuds/00AwkwardPenguin00
Summary: Aang asks a question. Zuko wants to strangle a man. A discussion on the nature of firebending ensues.
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & The Fire Nation (Avatar)
Series: Dragon of the Yuyan [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1582384
Comments: 231
Kudos: 4075





	Education

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/gifts), [OwlWaterLogged](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwlWaterLogged/gifts).



> Apologies for the shortness, but this was driving me absolutely crazy and it's only by the incredible skill and grace of OwlWaterLogged (@optionalwarninglabels on Tumblr) that this is in any kind of presentable form at all.

Aang has never seen Zuko so furious. He paces around their campsite like a caged tigerdillo, clenching and unclenching his fists, while Aang and Katara watch him warily and Sokka whittles unconcernedly. 

Every so often Zuko will stop, grit his teeth, and sign rapidly to the open air. He doesn't seem to care that he's going too fast for anyone to understand him, he seems to just be signing to vent the way Aang sometimes just talks to Appa or Momo without expecting any response.

Maybe Aang shouldn't have asked Zuko if Jeong-Jeong had been right about the nature of firebending. They had made camp for the night after fleeing the Deserter's base, and had just finished dinner when Aang's curiosity had been piqued by Zuko using his bending to stoke the campfire, making it smell wonderfully of sandalwood and hot spices. The question had tumbled out of his mouth without his permission, and Zuko had stopped and stared at Aang before turning fully to face him and demanding in slow, careful hand-language  _ exactly _ what Jeong-Jeong had said.

Aang had told him, Katara had added some stuff that Jeong-Jeong had told her, and Zuko had sat blinking at them for a moment before jumping to his feet and starting to pace. And five minutes later, he still hasn't stopped. Out of the corner of his eye, Aang is nervously watching the campfire swell and shrink with the firebender's angry breaths. It's started to smell less of warm, comforting incense and more of something like burning hair.

"Hey Jerkbender," Sokka calls suddenly, slicing a curl of wood off of whatever he's carving, "might want to cool down and explain what's got you puffing smoke before you get dumped in a river."

Zuko stops short, takes several deep, slow breaths, then walks back to sit in front of Aang with slow, careful movements.

**_Sorry,_ ** he signs, and Aang tries to make an effort to pay attention to both his hands and his face, because Zuko has said over and over that so much of his language is spoken through facial expressions, and right now Zuko looks tired and upset as he rubs his fist against his chest twice in a circle.

"I'm sorry for getting so impatient and for not listening to Jeong-Jeong and for burning Katara," Aang says.

Zuko shakes his head as he makes the sign for "angry" and then points at Aang.  **_Not angry at you._ **

"But I hurt Katara!" Aang protests. He can't believe that that huge tantrum the firebender had just finished wasn't about how stupid he'd been.

Zuko smiles sadly. He signs "fire", and "dangerous".  **_Fire is dangerous_ ** _.  _ His expression goes firm, and he signs "control", "need", and "strict", and points at Aang.  **_You need strict control._ ** Then he smiles again, kind and understanding, points at Aang, and signs "new", "mistake", "happen".  **_Mistakes happen when you're new._ **

Aang knows that, he  _ does _ , but bending has always been his  _ thing _ . He's always been really, really good at it. He got his Airbending Mastery tattoos a week before his twelfth birthday! And he's the  _ Avatar _ . But the idea of causing  _ pain _ , of  _ hurting someone _ … his stomach roils.

A fingertip gently flicks the center of his forehead, just above the point of his arrow. Aang looks up to find Zuko studying him in that way that makes Aang feel like he's  _ reading _ every movement Aang makes. Then he closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and lets it out silently.

He makes the sign that he'd made up for Jeong-Jeong, and "places" him to his right. Aang remembers how confusing that had been the first time he'd done that, talking about his brother Kai, and how he'd had to write out an explanation for it before Aang and the others had understood. Then Zuko points to himself, signs "angry", then points at "Jeong-Jeong". 

"You're angry at Jeong-Jeong?" Aang asks.  _ What? _ But Jeong-Jeong was a  _ Master _ , and had been one for  _ way _ longer than Zuko had.

Zuko nods and scowls. He points to "Jeong-Jeong", signs "not", shakes his head as he signs "understand", and then "firebending".  **_Jeong-Jeong really doesn't understand firebending._ **

_ WHAT? _

"But he's a  _ Master Firebender!" _ Aang gasped. "How could he  _ not _ understand firebending?"

Zuko signs "fire" and "what" with his brow furrowed.  **_What is fire?_ **

"Dangerous," Aang answers immediately. "Hot. Destructive."

**_Yes,_ ** Zuko replies with a shrug. He turns to Katara, and signs, "your", "home", points to her, "house", "make", "warm", and "how" with furrowed brow. It takes Aang a minute to put the sentence together in an order that makes sense:  **_At home, how do you make your house warm?_ **

It takes Katara even longer, but eventually the copper piece drops and she blurts out, "Oh! We have a hearth in the middle of our igloo with a fire."

Zuko nods, and signs "cold" and "dangerous" with a raised brow.  **_Cold is dangerous?_ **

Katara nods. " _ Very _ . If you get wet and don't warm up fast enough, you freeze to death. If you stay outside too long, and fall asleep, you freeze to death. Hearthfires keep us alive."

Zuko points at Katara and grins broadly. Then he turns to Aang and signs "fire" and "life" and "same".  **_Fire and life are the same._ **

Aang and Katara glance at each other, baffled. 

Zuko continues. He signs "fire" and "without", and shakes his head as he signs "food" and "warmth" and "light".  **_Without fire, there's no food, no warmth, and no light._ ** He signs "fire", "life", and "same" again, and then "fire" and "life"––wait, he'd double-signed "life", so that meant "alive".  **_Fire is life, and fire is alive._ ** He points at Aang, signs "fire", "its", "life" scowls strongly as he snaps out the sign "must", and uses two hands to sign "respect".  **_You_ ** **_must respect_ ** **_fire's life._ ** Then his expression softens, and he signs "firebending", "afraid", and "need" while shaking his head.  **_You don't need to be afraid of firebending._ ** He has a confident smirk on his face as he signs "control" and "need", then shakes his head as he signs "afraid".  **_You need control, not fear._ **

He gently flicks Aang's arrow, then orders,  **_Come. First lesson._ **

Aang follows Zuko away from the campfire, and sits down cross-legged on the ground. He motions for Aang to sit across from him.

"Firebending", "strong", "from", and "breath".  **_Firebending strength comes from the breath._ ** "Control" and "breath", points at Aang, and then "control" and "fire".  **_Control the breath, and you control the fire._ ** "Breath" and "copy me".  **_Copy my breathing._ **

He begins to take deep, even breaths that Aang matches easily, and he finds his eyes closing involuntarily as he focuses on the soothing rhythm. After a few moments, Zuko touches his knee, and Aang opens his eyes without losing the cadence of his breaths.

His teacher holds out a hand, and a small flame blossoms above his palm, crackling merrily and giving off the wonderful aroma of sandalwood and hot spices. Like an incense stick made with the ingredients for curry. Mmm, curry. 

Great, now Aang’s hungry again.

A firm poke to the center of Aang’s arrow reminds him to focus, and then Zuko gently grasps his hand by the wrist and pulls it toward him. He deposits the flame from his other hand into Aang’s open palm, and Aang feels the heat of it racing up and down his chi paths in a steady pulse.

Aang breathes in, and the flame grows. He breathes out, and the flame shrinks. The pulses of heat through his chi paths is steady and constant, like a heartbeat. He’s never felt anything like it before.

He meets Zuko's eyes, and the older boy grins at him.  **_Fire is life, and fire is_ ** **_alive_ ** , the firebender signs again, leaning forward eagerly as he double signs the second "life". “Firebending”, points at Aang, “strong”, “stubborn”, and “need”.  **_To firebend, you need a strong will._ ** With a stern expression, he signs "your", “stubborn”, “more-than”, and “fire”.  **_Your will must be stronger than the fire._ ** “If”, Aang’s “stubborn”, “strong” + “enough”, “then”, Aang’s “control”, “strong”.  **_If your will is strong enough, then your control will be strong._ **

“I think I get it,” Aang says, watching the flame in his hand dance. He can feel it reaching, wanting  _ more, more _ , but he keeps his breaths even and deep, and refuses to let it grow. “Jeong-Jeong said Zhao had no self-control, which is why his firebending is so wild. But I don’t get what he meant when he told Katara that whole “razor’s edge” thing. If you have self-control, and have control over your fire, doesn’t that mean you’re  _ not _ savage?”

He looks up to find Zuko smirking at him proudly.  **_Good question,_ ** he praises. Then he starts signing again,  _ very _ slowly. "During", "S-O-Z-I-N", "reign", "spirit", "firebending", and he finishes with "awful" and "change" signed with a  _ huge _ gesture and a thoroughly disgusted face.  **_During Sozin's reign, the spirit of firebending underwent a horrible change._ ** "Firebending" + "people", "start", "use", "negative", "emotion", “power”, “firebending”.  **_Firebenders started using negative emotions to power their firebending._ ** “Angry”, “fear”, “hate”, “aggressive”. He snaps out the signs as though they would infect him if he didn’t get rid of them as fast as possible, his expressions magnifying and reflecting the emotions he’s listing.  **_Rage, fear, hate, aggression._ ** His shoulders slump and his expression turns sad as he continues to sign. “Spirit”, “firebending”, “true”, “lost”.  **_The true spirit of firebending was lost._ **

“So what’s the true spirit of firebending?” Aang asks.

**_Passion._ ** Zuko’s golden eyes gleam, and his jaw sets behind his determined smirk. He signs “people” ending with his hand on his chest, signs “save” with a fierce and protective expression, points to himself, and finishes with an emphatic “want”.  **_I want to save my people._ ** "Passion" ending with his hand on his chest.  **_That is my passion._ ** He signs "happen", "difficult", "enthusiasm", and then "continue".  **_It drives me to keep going when things are hard._ ** "Firebending", "power", "use", "enthusiasm".  **_I use that drive to power my firebending._ **

He signs "your" at Aang, then signs “passion” with his eyebrow raised.  **_What is your passion?_ ** "Happen", "difficult", then points to Aang and signs "enthusiasm" and "continue" with a furrowed brow.  **_What drives you to keep going when things are hard?_ **

Aang stares at the slowly dwindling flame in his hand, still pulsing steadily, and can't think of an answer. The monks had always taught him to let go of such attachments, because they got in the way of a free spirit. He thinks about his growing feelings for Katara, but that doesn't really feel right. What Zuko is talking about… it sounds like conviction. An absolute truth that would never change. Aang can't think of anything he feels that strongly about.

His confusion must show on his face, because Zuko gives him a small smile and pats his shoulder as he stands up. He signs "tonight", "enthusiasm" with a raised eyebrow, then he makes a small circle with his finger near the crown of his head with a pensive expression––Aang guesses it might mean "think about"––, and then points at Aang.  **_Tonight, think about what drives you._ ** "Sunrise", "we", "meditate".  **_We'll meditate at sunrise._ ** After a gentle flick to his arrow, he signs  **_Goodnight_ ** and strides off to set up his bedroll. Momo glances up at him from where he's curled up in the center of Sokka's back, and as soon as the firebender has arranged his bedroll the way he likes and pulled off his boots, the lemur purrs and scampers over to burrow into the crook of the older boy's arm. Zuko runs his hand down Momo's back, from between his ears to the tip of his tail, then with the same hand makes a gesture like pushing something down, and the campfire shrinks to glowing embers.

Aang lies back against the ground, hands folded behind his head, and stares up at the stars. He has a lot to think about.

**Author's Note:**

> Next week: **Confrontation**


End file.
